Taion
by Sacrificial Tao
Summary: Grell visits Phantomhive Manor late one evening, and some shocking revelations are made, which have dire implications for Ciel.
1. Prologue

**体温 － ****Prologue**

All was quiet in the manor that evening. Sebastian strolled through the corridors, searching for misplaced items. As he neared the entrance, he realised there was a persistent rapping on the door. He opened it, both wondering and dreading whosoever could be calling at that late hour. Illuminated in the silver moonlight was a shock of crimson hair, tied neatly at the nape of the shinigami's neck. Sebastian paused, and spun on his heel, not wishing to interact with the zealous man.

"Wait, please," Grell muttered, "I really need to speak to you," he revealed. Sebastian was immediately suspicious -the shinigami was speaking with more demure than usual. "I swear I won't make a commotion, I just need to tell you something, urgently."

"You'd best come in then," Sebastian allowed, stepping aside from the door. With a nod of thanks, Grell entered the house. Reluctantly, Sebastian led the shinigami to his room. Once within, he set up two chairs.

"What did you need to tell me?" the butler queried, staring in Grell's general direction.

"I'd like to tell you about my life before I died, so that maybe you'll understand why I murdered Angelina Durless," he began. A small look of surprise flickered over Sebastian's features.

"It is not I that needs to understand," Sebastian interrupted abruptly.

"I know, but the little earl wouldn't listen to me. I was born in a farming village, just off the outskirts of London in 1318, and I grew up with my mother, father and several younger siblings. I often helped my father, in the fields, in other words, I was a peasant. When I was fifteen, I met a beautiful woman." Sebastian listened in interest, wondering how the story was going to end. "She was truly beautiful, the most stunning person I have ever laid eyes on, and that includes you, Sebastian." Grell added surreptitiously, briefly glancing into Sebastian's carmine eyes.

"We fell in love, Sebastian, I adored her. My father was ecstatic, I'd found such a striking lady, and her father was more than pleased that I was a hard and willing worker. She was a year younger than I, and we were married in the spring of 1334, and well, she was pregnant soon after." Grell laughed -and even Sebastian smiled, he wasn't entirely sure of why he felt so positively about the event.

"So our first child was born, a boy we named him…" Grell trailed off, seemingly uncomfortable. "We had hoped that he'd be more than us… his name was Sebastian," he said softly. The butler jolted, shocked by the utterance. "I assure you, I am telling the truth. He had my hair, this scarlet mess, but her features, he grew to be servant in a large manor house, from what I hear he was good at his job, but I was already dead by then."

Sebastian was completely lost for words; he secretly desired to hear the rest of the tale.

"We had four other children, three were girls, and the youngest was another boy." Grell paused, a slight tremor to his voice. "And then the Black Death came, it wiped out virtually all of us, including our families. Our children died, all except Sebastian, he was already serving the Lord in the manor. All four of the younger ones died in agony, the same as my wife," he whispered bitterly. "She died in my arms, I was sick, I was close myself, but the Undertaker came. He saw something in me, I don't know what, but he watched as my body failed, and before I could pass completely, he stopped me. I was reborn as a shinigami." Tears poured down the shinigami's cheeks, he clenched his fists.

"Since that day, I've had to collect the souls of my family."

Once more, Sebastian was at a loss for words, it was clear what the implications of the story were, and it was disheartening to see a normally enthusiastic person reduced to such a state. It appeared as if the Phantomhive's weren't rooted in the aristocracy, as Ciel believed.

"Angelina and Rachel Durless were two of the last," Sebastian offered. A nod of affirmation came from the reaper. Without another word, Grell left shakily, and Sebastian was almost inclined to help him. Almost.

Sebastian wondered how best to tell the young master about the night's events.


	2. Chapter 1

**体温 － ****Chapter 1**

Sebastian stared at the space the crimson shinigami had just vacated, a surprisingly compassionate flame burning hotly in his chest. He churned the story over in his head -almost incredulous at the level of adulation Grell's voice had held for his late wife. A tiny part of him felt as though he should follow the distressed reaper, but he restrained himself, not wishing to make a fuss. Idly, he wondered exactly how he was going to tell Bocchan of the disclosures, he wasn't even sure if he should. Did it even matter if the two were distantly related? In the end, after hours of contemplation, he had decided not to inform Bocchan of the shinigami's visit, instead he wanted to question the man further, so that he had all of the key details. The day's duties included a visit to see the Undertaker, to try and find out more information about Baron Kelvin and Noah's Ark Circus.

As irritable as ever, the young earl threw open the door to Undertaker's shop and froze. Sebastian peered curiously into the darkness, wondering why the young earl had stopped so abruptly. It was immediately obvious why he had. Sutcliff sat in a corner, buried in paperwork, working diligently. A pang of something unknown throbbed in Sebastian's chest. The reaper didn't acknowledge them, he just continued to write, glaring at whatever he was doing.

The Undertaker himself appeared from the backroom of the shop, smiling in his unique and perpetual amusement.

"Oh, don't mind Mr Fields here _guhehe_, he won't bite _guhehe,_" The Undertaker smirked, flinging his arm in Grell's direction.

"Do not call me Fields, Undertaker," Grell snarled, throwing down his work. With a flick of scarlet hair, he had vanished into the gloominess of the back room.

"Young Master, I need to converse with Grell, please excuse me," Sebastian stated, already on the heels of the reaper.

Grell wound through a maze of coffins, until he reached the stairs to the upper level, fully aware of the demon on his tail. He didn't particularly feel like interacting with the man, but he knew he had little choice, he hadn't exactly left room for clarification the last time they had talked. Once they were safely in his room, he sunk onto the bed, looking up at Sebastian.

"Well, go on then, ask away," he ordered exasperatedly.

"Why would Undertaker call you Fields?"

Grell seemed as if he were trying to remember something, something long lost in the depths of his memory. In Sebastian's opinion, his answer probably was buried deep within the countless caverns of hundreds of years' worth of snapshots.

"My name, before I died, was Edmund Fields. I think 'grell' is something akin to a sound I made while I was projectile vomiting." His voice was humourless, he obviously thought ill of the choice of name, which was –admittedly- entirely understandable.

"Edmund Fields," Sebastian repeated, finding he liked the name much more so than Grell Sutcliff. "Why are you here?" He asked as he perched on the other end of Grell's bed.

"I can't stand William, so I left for now," he retorted, refusing to look anywhere in Sebastian's direction. The answer seemed at odds with the way Grell behaved around William the few times Sebastian had seen them together. "Even this stupid flamboyant homosexual farce isn't working anymore!"

Sebastian tried desperately to school the look of outright shock into something more acceptable, but he feared he failed, as the red-head glowered darkly.

"I don't want to make a stitch with every slightly respectable looking man you know, I just said those things so that William would leave me alone, he found the very idea of sodomy utterly repulsive, especially when it was two men. I hate him, he's just the worst kind of person. He's a generation below me, Sebastian, in terms of being a shinigami and a mortal. I loathe him more than anything else."

"Why do you dislike him so much?" Sebastian queried, very curious as to what could inspire such an apparently deep seated abhorrence. Arms folded over Grell's chest, and Sebastian realised that the man's frame wasn't nearly as feminine as he had originally thought.

"He killed my son." Sutcliff offered angrily. "Albeit indirectly. William was the son of the Lord of the manor -a heartless man who toyed with the hearts many women, many of whom were servants in the manor. He died of some disgusting venereal disease." The shinigami didn't elaborate, so Sebastian was forced to make his own conclusions.

"So what, he had a brush with your son? Or your son's wife?" He offered, wondering if the reaper even knew which had happened. The idea of William T. Spears dying of a venereal disease was incredibly amusing to the demon.

"I don't know; either way I don't really care, all I know is it had to be one of them. I guess I should tell you a little more, I don't think you told the little earl, or else he would've been more hostile toward me. I honestly don't know what else there is to tell you, except maybe that my family began getting mixed up in the aristocracy about the time of Oliver Cromwell, possibly a few years after his death during the Restoration. I can tell you this though; about ten years before the deaths of Rachel and Vincent Phantomhive, Queen Victoria considered having the entire family destroyed. They were viewed as dangerous. I don't know the identity of the organisation that kidnapped Ciel either, he was already gone when I arrived in the manor to collect the parent's souls."

All the while they had been conversing, Sebastian had distinct feeling he had heard the name Edmund Fields before, and he tried desperately to remember where. After several minutes of silence, he managed to recall where.

"You nearly summoned me, Edmund Fields, you wanted the suffering of your family to end." Sebastian whispered hoarsely. "I normally wouldn't of considered coming to the aid of one such as you, but you sounded so desperate and helpless, it was enough to stir even a demon."

Grell gaped at the butler, not quite believing what was being said.

"I nearly answered you, I was about to, but suddenly there was nothing." He continued, finally understanding the events from half a century prior.

"Well, that would explain the very confused looking shadow that hung around my house for a month," Sutcliff laughed, and Sebastian joined him.

"I must go, Edmund Fields, and if you ever desire a secure hiding spot from William, come and find me," he offered, as he left the room.

* * *

**A/N - **

**'make a stitch' and 'have a brush with' were genuine sexual slang phrases from the 19th century :D**


End file.
